Improvement in sewing-machines



2 Sheets-Sheet '1. D. ,0. AMBLER.

SEWING MACHINE. F No. 11,884.

Patented Nov. 1, 1854.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

11. 0. AMBLER., SEWING MACHINE.

No. 11,884. Patented Nov. 1, 1854.

1 1E "cams nuns 09.. Pnwo-uma, wan-"men. a, c.

UNITED "STA-TEST PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL o. AMBLER, ornEw'YonK, Y.

IMPROVEMENT lNtSEWING-MACHINES. T

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 11,884, dated November 5, 1854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL G. AMBLER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full and fair description thereof.

- The object of my invention is to produce a felling-down stitch, by means of which, I can sew together two pieces of heavy stufl' whose edges overlap each "other, as inthe seams of sails or awnings, 8m.

Inorder to effect these objects, I have been led to invent improvements on the sewing-ma chines usually employed, overcoming successively the various difficulties as they presented .themselves in an experimental machine.

The machine improved by me is of "that class which employs'a needle making a loop,

and a shuttle which throws another thread through said' loop, the eye of my needle being hear the center'thereofin'the direction of its length. Some of my improvements are, however, applicable to any of the known kinds of sewing-machines.

The nature of the'first part of my invention, therefore, consists in supporting the needle upon a carriage, which is at each stitch forced tovibrate in such manner that the needle passes alternatelythrough a single thickness and then through a double thickness of cloth, thereby attaching the two pieces which overlap each other .by a felling-.downstitch, in

the manner substantially as hereinafter de-- scribed.

I The nature of the second part of my invention'consists in combining with a needle-having such; a motion a shuttle whose .throw' is transverse or perpendicular to av line passing along the seamin the direction of the length thereof, whereby I am enabled to employ a stationary in place of a vibrating shuttle-race,

as hereinafter set forth.

' The nature'of the third part of my invention consists in clamping the thread automati- Lcally upon the upstroke of the needle, either to-the needle itself or to some fixed point between the needle and the spool, whereby the needle takes a strong pull upon each and every stitch, dragging the two pieces of fabric firmly together, as is essentially necessary in sails, 'Stc. I e

The nature of the fourth part of my invention consists in imparting a quarter-revolution upon its own axis to the needle on the upstroke thereof, whereby the needle does not drag up such parts of the loop as it is in contact with, but pulls firmly upon that portion only of the thread which passes through the eye, thereby making a firm and perfect stitch in thick cloth, and not jamming a portion of the needle-thread and leaving another portion slack when the stitch is completed.

The nature of the last part of my invention consists of an' adjustable connection between two needle-carriages, by means of which one needle may receive vibrating motion fromanother, and they may be set at such distance apart as to sew both seams'of a compound/ seam at any required interval each from the other, and both at the same time.

' In the drawings the same letters refer to the same parts in all the figures, and Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine, including the carriage which supports the take-up and give oii rollers. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a section, on a large scale, through the shuttle-driver and race. Fig. 4

is a front elevation, on a large scale, of a needle-carriage, thread-clamping apparatus, and holding-down clamp, showing the shuttle-race, &c., in crosssection. Fig. 5 is a sectional view through a needle and its spring attachment, and Figs. '6 and 7 exhibit views of a sewed seam and the-selvage-adj usting clamps.

In my machine the needle and its accessories are attached to a vibrating carriage, which has transmitted to it an oscillating motion perpendicular to the general direction of aseam, and I intend,usually, to employ two needles and two shuttles, thus sewing the two seams of a compound seam'at the same time. The shuttles travel perpendicularlyto the general direction of the seam, instead of parallel thereto, as is more usually thecase, and each needle has a rotating motion: on its ownaxis imparted to it on the upstroke, while the needle-thread is clamped fast also on the ascending stroke; The whole apparatus is supported upon astrong frame or table, with an upright shaft at one end, fi'om which, by means'of cams and bent the lower of which, b, by means of a bell-crank,

. these parts, except the cam, are duplicated, or

- unnecessary complication of the drawings, on-

-the needle n. These parts-are clearly shown injl lig. 5. Aroundthe spring d is secured a .gtube, d, which slides in guides 01', firmlyseeured'upon the needle-carriage. tube is fastened a pin, d and both tube and,

e,1jin the guides, shaped 'substantially'asiis shown n the-drawings, and level,or nearlyso,

- brating leveror switch, d, .pi'voted at d light spring, 6, holds the lower 7 end of jdiii' ing one or both thicknesses of the" cloth, the

' remains; stationary ,for an instant until. the

' proceeds up along the convex side of the switch,

against the force of the light spring e, moves the switch in thedirection of the arrow, and the pin finally arrivesagain in the straight oneach up-and-down stroke of each needle, which therefore. reciprocates on'fits own axis .asitrises. J I 'Iuse aneedle levers,-&c., all the necessary motions are derived. This shafta may receive a revolving motion in any appropriate manner, and has firmly keyed upon it three cams, b, c, and d,

c, and link 0, imparts a reciprocating motion to the shuttle-driver 0*, in which is located the shuttle c \Vhen two needles are employed,

one shuttle may receive motion directly from the driver of the other.

The middle cam, c, imparts motion to a bent lever, c,which is connected to the nearest of the two needle-carriages, c c, which. arepivoted at c c. 4 Both these carriages are shown in the drawings; but these needles .and the turning and clamping apparatus are, to avoid Upon this pin can revolve through an arc of about ninety degrees on the axis of the'tube,while .d" is moving up and down Without..j'any--movement of rotation. The'pin 'diprojects through'a slot,

with the surface offthe slot is attached'a vicontact with the'straight side of the'slot. When d1 descends, it'carries with it the tube (1", spring (1, and needle n, the pin d5 passing. verticallydown through the slot, and the needle piercpin d opening the switch; but when at rises, carrying with it the needle, &c;, the pin Id passes up the straight lower part of the slot until it reaches the point marked d where it shnttle is thrown through the loop. It (d then rotating the needle until thepin cl arrives as high as (1 or thereaboutL- The spring d then rotates the needle in the contrary direction part of the slot. These motions are repeateddeeply'groovedupontwosides thereof, with an eye nearly in the center of zag stitch.

the needle and passing from groove ,to groove.

The thread is thus protected from being cut or chafed, and the point' of the needle never rises far above the surface of the cloth, thereby avoiding danger of entangling loose parts of the thread; My needle, moreover, has along stroke, as the shuttle is large and bulky, and

the loop formed isnecessarily a large one.

In the act of sewi ng,the front and rear sides of the needle are kept highly polished, while the grooved sides thereoflbeing protected by the thread, are comparatively rough, and, wh en waxed thread is used, sticky. \Vhen heavy or waxed thread is employed or the'cloth is thick, a needle having the usual motion only does-not drag its eye over the thread, but lifts both,

parts of the loop simultaneously, or nearly so, thus destroying the shape of the loop, inter fering with the action of the shuttle, loosening the previous stitch,and even when it makes a stitch forming an imperfect one; This difficulty was encountered by me, and to obviate it I gave to the needle the movement of rotation above set forth, whereby the polished sides of the needle are presented to the thread upon the upstroke. When this is done, the thread slides freely through the eye, not being bound upon the rough or nnpolished sides of the nee-' dle, the shape of the loop is not impaired, the shuttle does its WOI'k' properly, and a good tight stitch is the result, l

The cam c'is so shaped {that the link a makes'a motion either from or toward the shaft 64 when the needle is nearly at the end of its upstroke,- The needle-carriage is thereby slanted, so that the needle enters the cloth first vat f f f and then at g y g, passing at one time through both thicknesses, and then through a singlethickness,therebyi'elling down the edge,

and while one needle is sewing the semen the As each needle forms its other is sewing h. loep, the appropriate shuttle throws the shut-'- tl'e-thread through said loop. 1 I It is clear that the shuttles will pass through the loops without being affected by the motion which either needle derivesfrom earn'c; but

if the shuttles were-throx vn in the direction of the lengthiof the seam,' their races would be obliged to vibrate as theneedles vibrated, and

' it wouldbe necessary to secure the needle to its'stock in such manner that the direction of the axis of its eye would be perpendicular .to that represented in thedrawings. It '--will therefore appear that the combinationof a shuttle thrown perpendicularly to the general direction of the seam witha vibrating needle materially simplifies the machine for sewing felling-down seams by means of a zig- Where two needles .acting simultaneously are employed, they may, as is represented anddescribed, have their; carriages vibrated by a singlelever, c.v This is eflected by connecting one carriage to the other by means of a link, c This link is surrounded in the present machine-by a light spiral'spring, and hascut on one end a screw, to which a proper nut is adapted, turning-which the effective 'at a greater or less distance apart.

length of c is altered,- and the carriages kept This feature enables me to regulate the distance between the-two needles, thereby forming thetwo seams h and h -at any required distance from each-other. V g

To my. machine is adapted the ordinary spring steadying-clamp, which prevents the lifting of the cloth on the upstroke of the.

needle. This clamp, &c., is attached to the carriage, and is clearly shown at i t" of Fig. 2. Any known feed apparatus may be employed. I, however, havedevised a simple one, composed of a rotatingshaft with frictionwheels thereon, said shaft being moved by a ratchet attached to c. The shaft j,frictionwheels j, and ratchet-wheelj with ratchet j, are clearly shown in the drawings.

In order to preserve the proper overlapping of the two breadths and their rectilinear motion under the needles, I have devised clamps ll, attached to the table, each'hooking overone selvage of the cloth, as shawn clearly in Fig. 7. When canvas is rolled first from one side of the table and then from the other, two sets of these clamps should be employed, both sets so fastened that they may be turned out of the way; and I intend usually to make these clamps adjustable upon thetable, so that they may be fitted to any required width of lap.

My endeavors to sew heavy goods would have been unavailing unless I had devised some method of making a taut stitch which should hold the two pieces in close contact when sewed together. I knew that a friction= drag had been attached to the spool of needlethread; but this did not answer a good purpose where heavy goods were to be sewed. I there fore deviseda method of clamping the thread firmly either to some fixed point or to the needle itself upon the upstroke of thelatter, so that the needle might pull the loop taut, one end thereof being fast in thecloth and the other in the clamp. This clamp, also, must be automatic, or driven, by a positive motion derived from the machine. Many forms and arrangements of clamps for effecting this pur- Y pose have been invented by me, and a very simple one is represented in the drawings. (Best shown at Figs. 3 and 4). A small bent lever, m, pivoted at m", is attached by means of a hanger, W, to the needle-carriage, One end of this lever is weighted, as at m or has pressing thereon a light spring. The other end of m is bent at m and m until the upstroke is completed. In

case of some accidental jamming of the thread this clamping, where the thread is strong,

might break some portion of the machine, I

- equivalent of the shuttle.

have therefore supported m bymeansofa screw, 0', which passes throngh'a slot, 0, and applied 'a pretty strong spring, 0*,"in such manner that hanger, clutch, andall'may be lifted upon the upstroke in the eventof accidental jamming of the thread.

I do not deem it necessary to describe further the operation of the machine,as I believe that suff cient on that head has already been said, but would state. that-many modifications may be made in all the contrivances herein described without departing from the principles my invention, and that "such modifications would be mere modifications. For instance, the ultimate vibrating jand up-anddown motions'of the needles may be derived through any known train of motions, instead of those described by me. The partial recip-. rocating revolving motion of the needle may be effected by any mechanism which will'perform that duty, and this revolution maybe through an are greater or less than ninety degrees.

The clamp to fasten the thread on the up stroke may be attached on any convenient spot, or to the needle; and, finally, the needles may have no vibrating motion, and such motion may in various'ways be imparted to the cloth. The stationary would then become'the movable, and vice'yersa, and the imparting of a vibrating motion tothecloth would be clearly the equivalent o imparting the same motion for the same purpose to the needle. Moreover, any knownshuttle motion may be used; or the numerous equivalents of the shuttle employed insewing-machines may be used in connection with the vibrating needles or their equivalents. A secondary needle upon the opposite side of the cloth, either passing.

through it or not, is'deemed by me to be an.

Many othermodifications might be described, and will no doubt readily present themselves to the mind of the ingenious mechanic.

I would further state that I do not claim as of my invention a shuttle whose throw is perpendicular to the general direction of the seam; but I WVhat I do claim as of my own-invention, and desire to secure bylietters Patent of the United States, is.

1. The method substantially as herein de scribed of sewing a felling down or zigzag seain' by means of vibrations in a line per pend icular to the seam, or nearly so, imparted either to the needle or to, the cloth, substantially in the manner herein described.

2. The combination, with a'needle having such motions or the equivalent thereof, of a shuttle thrown in a direction perpendicular,"

or nearly so, to the general direction of the seam, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein specified.

3. An automatic lever for clamping the thread upon the upstroke of the needle, eon-' structed and operating substantially in'the manner and for the purposes herein described.

4. Imparting to the needle a partially-reciprocating rotating lnotion upon its own axis,-

substantiallyin the manner and for the purposes set forth.

5. Connecting two vibrating needles each to each, substantially in the manner herein set forth, whereby one vibrating mechanism serves for both needles, and said needles may also be adjusted so as to sew seams simultaneously at any required distance apart, substantiall'y in the manner herein described.

In witness whereof I hax e hereunto subscribed my name in the city of New York.

DANIEL (LAMBLER. In presence of-- SYLVESTER LAY,

- GEORGE A. GILLESPIE. 

